IN-BOX.

A pal to the parks

December 23, 2001

Although I now live around the bottom of the lake in Long Beach, Ind., I still consider myself a South Sider and travel to Chicago frequently to attend concerts and plays, visit museums and jog along 18 marvelous miles of lakefront. The city has never looked better with flowers everywhere and occasionally cows.

Certainly, much of the credit must go to Mayor Richard Daley and the guidance he gives the Chicago Park District. But as Liam Ford suggests in "The Greening of Erma Tranter" [Nov. 25], give a nod also to Tranter, the Friends of the Parks president who sometimes uses a coy smile and other times a stiletto to prod the Park District into acting in the public's best interests. Those who share Erma's love for Chicago's parks probably should erect a statue to her, although I'm sure she would object to its taking away valuable green space.

Erma definitely will deserve at least a pat on the back if she can prevent the city from implementing its atrocious remodeling plan for Soldier Field. The current stadium looks fine. Give the Bears a few extra skyboxes to keep them from moving to Albuquerque, but leave Soldier Field the way it is!

Hal Higdon / Long Beach, Ind.

Kelly on 'Friends'

I would like to respond to "The Greening of Erma Tranter." I left the Chicago Park District in 1986 after 38 years of service and 15 years as general superintendent with three years remaining on my contract. No one forced me out. I left on my own terms.

Jory Graham, a Sun-Times reporter, started Friends of the Parks. In fact, she met with me and asked for help with a small group of Boy Scouts who wanted to pick up tree branches, I believe in Jackson Park, on a Saturday morning. I assigned two trucks and their crews (overtime) to help. Guess who did the cleanup?

The motive behind the formation of Friends of the Parks by the Sun-Times was political and was to give the African-American community (a large segment of the Sun-Times readership) the impression they were being shortchanged. The Park District proved in federal court before one of the finest federal judges, who happened to be African-American, that we did spend more money in the minority areas. The consent agreement was never forced upon us; it was a mutual understanding that we would continue to spend in the areas that were agreed on.

This group has done an injustice to many dedicated Park employees. None of these self-appointed leaders, I would bet, ever participated in our park programs in their early years to really understand how important the parks have been for so many, young and old.

The parks were not a political haven. When I became superintendent, we had 4,600 full-time employees; when I left, we had 3,600. I never turned anyone down who wanted to promote or have physical activities, and [then-Mayor] Mike Bilandic never pressured me--or anyone at the Park District.

Ed Kelly / Former general superintendent, Chicago

Park District

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Tribune reporter Liam Ford responds: Kelly may have resigned of his own accord, but first, those who wanted to make him an emblem of the old Richard J. Daley machine did their best to strip him of his power. In this light, Kelly is right to view Friends of the Parks as a political group, because Harold Washington certainly used their criticisms as a tool to consolidate control. Lois Weisberg and Erma Tranter both say an article by Jory Graham was the catalyst for the creation of the group, and the inspiration for the "Friends" name. Weisberg makes no claim to founding Friends alone. As to the cleanup in Jackson Park, Kelly and Weisberg disagree over who did more of it, volunteers or park workers.

The front lines

I was interested in your "Much Obliged" article [Nov. 18], which pointed out how much better policemen, firemen, mail carriers, flight attendants and Coast Guardsmen are treated since the Sept. 11 attack in New York City.

I know the feeling well. I was drafted into the Army on June 25, 1941; we were regarded as one of the lowest forms of life in the USA. It all changed with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when we became public heroes. When the article says that these people are now on the "front lines," I know that well too; that's why I wear the Combat Infantry Badge.

Lionel Carter (PFC, 112th Horse Cavalry) / Evanston

Ordinary life

"Above Us, Only Sky," the essay written by novelist Elizabeth Berg [Nov. 18], is a poignant acknowledgment of life as we have known it and as we value it. Hers is a gentler, more encompassing perspective of what life signifies than the aggressive response of anger and frustration that comes more naturally to me as I try to comprehend the implications of the Sept. 11 attack. Though the future bears much uncertainty, I feel confident that the essence of the life described in her essay will prevail.